Supporters of a ballot measure that aims to amend Arizona’s constitution to establish a right to abortion sued Republican lawmakers on Wednesday over the language used in a voter pamphlet. Arizona for Abortion Access, the group behind the ballot measure, argued that the phrase “unborn human” in the pamphlet is not neutral. They filed the lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court, seeking an order to compel the Arizona Legislative Council, a committee of lawmakers overseeing the pamphlet, to adopt “impartial” language. The group suggested that “fetus” would be a neutral, objective, and medically accurate term, consistently used by medical professionals and government agencies.
The pamphlet’s summary, approved by the Republican-majority council and required by law, states that current law prohibits abortion “if the probable gestational age of the unborn human being is more than 15 weeks,” except in certain emergencies. It also mentions that the amendment would create a right to abortion up to the point of fetal viability. This language mirrors the current law, which also uses the term “unborn human,” although the ballot measure itself does not.
Arizona for Abortion Access contends that while state law does not mandate the language of laws to be neutral, it does require the pamphlet summary to maintain neutrality. Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, who is on the legislative council and named as a defendant, stated, “We believe the Legislative Council drafted an unbiased description that accurately reflects the measure. We are confident that we will prevail.”
Voters in Arizona, along with those in Florida and Nevada, are expected to consider abortion rights measures in November. In May, Arizona lawmakers repealed a near-total abortion ban from 1864, with some Republicans joining Democrats in both legislative chambers to do so. This repeal left the 15-week ban passed in 2022 as the state law. The decision came after the Arizona Supreme Court ruled in April that prosecutors could enforce the Civil War-era ban following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling, which eliminated the nationwide right to abortion that had been in place since the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.
